Best Coast

Fade Away

Jewel City/Remote Control

Bethany Cosentino made some songs and put them up on the internet and before too long her band Best Coast are one of the hottest reverb drenched acts on the planet. After releasing two albums at a cracking pace go-getter Cosentino has started her own record label, Jewel City.  Who better to showcase the label than a bunch of new tunes by Best Coast?

Fade Away is a mini-album where Best Coast pull out their faster paced material that reaffirms their love of surf rock and girl groups. Cosentino and her partner in crime, Bobb Bruno, have found a space where they are more comfortable in the music that they make without having to dress it up in any overblown sheen.

There is talk that Cosentino was listening to lots of Patsy Cline and Mazzy Star when looking to write the tunes for Fade Away. There is little of this influence rearing its head until things are pulled back a notch for Baby I’m Crying which has a fair dose of heartbreak and subtle country twang. It is the simple guitar, unpretentious lyrics and infectious chorus of Who Have I Become? that is a prime example of what makes Best Coast so likeable.

While Cosentino has a more striking voice than early recordings indicated, Best Coast are a band with some sonic limitations. Fade Away puts all these restrictions aside as the seven song mini-album is the perfect length for them to win your heart and then leave without a sour taste remaining.

CHRIS HAVERCROFT